New league to help or hurt?

[RyanS12]

My issue is I hope these people are brutally honest with some of these kids. Is 50,000 really worth not going to college? I think back to when I was a teenager. My mom raised me and we were broke. I mean poverty level. I would've jumped at 50k to play basketball and threw away any college eligibility but then what? 50,000 goes quick. I know I wouldn't have had someone telling me not to if the opportunity was there but I'm glad it wasn't. I got to go to college for free. Got a degree and now make 6 figures. Could it be good? Yea, if it's run right but we've all seen what has happen with these leagues. But personally I think the NFL needs to step in and partner up and make some type of minor league similar to the NBAD League for this to be successful.

 

[RonJohn]

My issue is I hope these people are brutally honest with some of these kids.

Brutally honesty as in:

• We are going to put you into a degree program that will take as little time away from football as possible. It might be worthless and might not help you get a job if you don't make the NFL.
• If you try to concentrate on school instead of 14 hours a day of: workouts, formal practice, and "voluntary" film study: you will be punished.
• If you don't get on the field within 2 years, you will be asked to leave the program to make scholarship room for someone who is worthy.

Is that the kind of brutal honesty you would like to see?

 

[redmule]

If they can get a couple of their 'graduates' into the NFL, it might have a chance.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

Who announced it? Financial backers? Link please.

ESPN. TV. Outside the lines interviewed the founder. Starts in 2018. Pay for play.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

I can see in a few years; go here, go straight to pros in a year or two, no studying, $$$$! The NFL will secretly love it.

 

[Milwaukee]

It will not be able to compete with the factories, not even close.

Example: former Alabama defensive back Dre Kirkpatrick

1 - Dre's mother was given a brand new Cadillac Deville. $55-65k, depending on the options (Walter Sobchak reference)
2 - Dre received free tuition for a year at Bama (15-20k?? Someone help me here, I'm not sure at all)
3 - Dre received free housing. 8k
4 - Dre received free meals. 10k?
5 - Dre received premier exposure from TV and NFL personnel. Priceless
6 - Dre still had the academic freedom and loopholes in place to spend all the time training for pro football that he wants, all right there at the cozy university where you are treated like royalty.

That's just year one.

We could go on and on. You simply cannot and will not compete with the factories with a salary of 50k.

 

[northgajacket]

It will probably be XFL 2.0

 

[northgajacket]

So basically they are proposing something similar to Junior Hockey in Canada

 

[RyanS12]

Brutally honesty as in:

• We are going to put you into a degree program that will take as little time away from football as possible. It might be worthless and might not help you get a job if you don't make the NFL.
• If you try to concentrate on school instead of 14 hours a day of: workouts, formal practice, and "voluntary" film study: you will be punished.
• If you don't get on the field within 2 years, you will be asked to leave the program to make scholarship room for someone who is worthy.

Is that the kind of brutal honesty you would like to see?

I'm talking about the people running the league. If the kid has a legit shot of making it to the NFL then keep him. If it's some kid who's better off in college then tell him that. Don't just take kids to take them to start a league.

 

[JacketFromUGA]

Don't take my skepticism the wrong way. I think the NFL needs a rule like baseball where you either go pro out of HS or college for at least 3 years. I just don't see this particular start up working. The only one that will really work is one backed by NFL teams

 

[OldJacketFan]

I wonder why anyone thinks this new "league" is going to have the athlete's best interest in mind? Certainly not all schools do, the NFL damn sure doesn't but for the most part, outside the factory schools the athlete is better off in college that this so called alternative imo.

 

[RonJohn]

I'm talking about the people running the league. If the kid has a legit shot of making it to the NFL then keep him. If it's some kid who's better off in college then tell him that. Don't just take kids to take them to start a league.

I think you missed my point. I was talking about NCAA factory schools. I'm sure that Saban does not tell the kids and their parents that they will be asked to leave the program in two years if they don't live up to their academic expectations. I'm sure that UNC didn't tout how worthless the AA studies degree was. I know someone who had a D2 basketball scholarship and walked away from it because the coach told them that they could not take a full load or academically challenging classes in the fall or winter because it would interfere with basketball.

You stated that you hoped this league would be honest with the players. I am stating that the NCAA teams are either not honest or downright dishonest in their statements to potential players.

 

[RyanS12]

I think you missed my point. I was talking about NCAA factory schools. I'm sure that Saban does not tell the kids and their parents that they will be asked to leave the program in two years if they don't live up to their academic expectations. I'm sure that UNC didn't tout how worthless the AA studies degree was. I know someone who had a D2 basketball scholarship and walked away from it because the coach told them that they could not take a full load or academically challenging classes in the fall or winter because it would interfere with basketball.

You stated that you hoped this league would be honest with the players. I am stating that the NCAA teams are either not honest or downright dishonest in their statements to potential players.

Ok. Yes. I see what you're saying. I just re read what you said. Sorry. 3 kids under the age of 3. I tend to always be in a hurry. Lol.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

This is totally viable. Plenty of players will be available to fill the 4 teams of the league. I mean...all the kids processed out by Saban and Smart need somewhere to go right?

 

[stevo0718]

This.

In my opinion, what a lot of the folks who talk about paying players don't understand is that, despite college football's "stars," the school brands and histories are what actually generate the fan interest, not the individual players. I would rather watch Georgia Tech play Clemson with significantly worse student-athletes than watch better players in a semi-pro league I have no affiliation with compete against each other. It is much bigger than the individual players and athletes. I don't love Justin Thomas because he is a fantastic athlete. I love him because he was a fantastic athlete at Georgia Tech. If he were an Alabama DB (or played for Charleston's semi-pro team), I could care less and almost certainly would not even know is his name. Even if the level of college player decreased two-fold, I would still continue to watch so long as it was generally competitive. No matter the average level of players, there will always be ones that stand out and are "stars." And I will continue to love my Georgia Tech's stars because they play for Georgia Tech.

There is zero chance I would switch any of my time or dollars to a semi-pro league just because I thought the level of play may be a bit higher than NCAAF. I don't watch college football to see the best talent. If that were the case, I would just watch NFL. I watch because I have an affiliation and history with the Georgia Tech program. That is why college football is big business.

Exactly! How much AAA baseball do you watch, it has better players than college baseball? I bet none.

College football has history, tradition, pageantry all things this league would not have.

Also I bet it would be full of kids who went to IMG high school so there would be little to no "hometown fans" to root for those kids individually.

 

[RonJohn]

It will not be able to compete with the factories, not even close.

Example: former Alabama defensive back Dre Kirkpatrick

1 - Dre's mother was given a brand new Cadillac Deville. $55-65k, depending on the options (Walter Sobchak reference)
2 - Dre received free tuition for a year at Bama (15-20k?? Someone help me here, I'm not sure at all)
3 - Dre received free housing. 8k
4 - Dre received free meals. 10k?
5 - Dre received premier exposure from TV and NFL personnel. Priceless
6 - Dre still had the academic freedom and loopholes in place to spend all the time training for pro football that he wants, all right there at the cozy university where you are treated like royalty.

That's just year one.

We could go on and on. You simply cannot and will not compete with the factories with a salary of 50k.

I think your value of: $50k, tuition, housing, and meals: differs from a kid who grew up in a 1 bedroom junker house in a bad neighborhood with electricity when a local charity organization decided to pay their electrical bill. Tuition means nothing. Housing can be had with a few roommates for very little money. I'm sure the league will have food available during the season and potentially part of the other time for training, etc. $50k is a lot of money to someone who's family rarely has $5.

 

[RedPete]

It will probably be XFL 2.0

Dang @northgajacket you beat me to it. The XFL was mostly ex-college football players, marketed hard with NBC and Vince McMahon, and that failed in about two seasons. Now they're trying a league with kids nobody has even heard of? No chance at all.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

If they have a loophole where you could go pro after year one and get paid at the same time, who knows. Remember when the AFL was told it would never make it?

 

[GTonTop88]

Announced today a new pro league for 18-21 year olds. I believe it could impact CFB, but may help us. What say you?

It would definitely help us by hurting the factories. The league is gonna either boom in a couple of years or bust. If this league can prove to get players drafted and get media attention it will take off.

 

[GTonTop88]

After reading their blueprint, its gonna be hard to get this going. It seems like it would be more of a NFL camp with scrimmages. They need to create a brand by maybe starting a team in populated football states (CA, GA, FL, TX) to create a fan base. 4 separate teams in So Cal is not gonna give anyone a reason to pull for one team over the other or care who wins or loses. Odd marketing scheme they have. I think that there is a market for this but it's gonna take a major backer and intelligent marketer to get this going.